LYNN — The union representing workers at General Electric’s factory in the city announced on Tuesday that it had reached a tentative agreement with the company to increase pay and implement raises for the more than 500 workers hired since 2016.
IUE-CWA Local 201 is the largest union representing GE workers across the nation, including those at the Lynn plant on Western Avenue. The union said the new tentative agreement would reform a wage progression system implemented by the company in 2016. The system – which the union said it has been chipping away at since 2019 – could have forced workers to wait 10 or more years before being eligible for the top pay rate at the facility, regardless of skills or productivity.
“This agreement is big for me. I’ll get a raise right away and more down the line. Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck on strict budgets. I take a lot of pride in the work I do at the GE Aviation plant In Lynn, as we all do,” said GE Aviation Lynn worker Chris Moody in a statement. “With this new deal secured through our union, we are helping workers in Lynn and across the country speed up the pay raises they need and deserve.”
The deal will make workers eligible for the top pay raise after six years, 40 to 60 percent sooner than the 2016 system would have, according to the union.
The tentative agreement also guarantees that workers will have a say in the process for setting the wage cap, also known as the “top of market rate.” In the past, the company had hired an outside consultant to calculate the top pay rate for the factory but allegedly refused to disclose the details of that process to workers.
The announcement Tuesday comes as union workers continue to battle high costs due to inflation, the statement said.
“This is an important win for GE Aviation union workers in Lynn. As we face inflation and higher prices at the grocery store and gas pump, it’s more important than ever for giant companies like General Electric to increase pay and invest in its employees,” said IUE-CWA Local 201 Business Agent Justin Richards. “Standing together, IUE-CWA union workers secured a new tentative agreement that will help workers earn pay raises faster as they work to provide for their families.”
Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected].
